Can we confirm from listening to iTunes versions of everglow and AOAL that the production of the leaked version isnt a great as the released version?

 

Also, what do people think of the production?

Ahh the man that started it all: the LP7 thread. Nice to meet you. I think mosy people on the forum think the production is meh-bad and some think that the production won't improve as the sound quality does.

Haha so long ago, been a busy year since then! And nice to meet you to :) I personally think the production is good. Not as good as viva or AROBTTH, but better then X&Y and MX

Someone did this on the other thread:)My personal opinion using emojis:

 

AHFOD: :D:):P:thumbsup:

Birds: :P;):smug::)

Hymn For The Weekend: :shocked2::dozey::thinking::)

Everglow: :nice::nice::nice::nice:

Adventure Of A Lifetime: :thumbsup::P:cool::awesome:

Fun: :\:smug::confused:;)

Kaleidoscope: :nice::nice::nice:: )

Army Of One: :confused::angry::stunned::smug:

X Marks The Spot: :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm::angry:

Amazing Day: :nice::angel::angel::angel:

Colour Spectrum: :D:cool::nice::heart:

Up&Up: :vuvuzela::thumbsup::confused::guitarist:

 

BTW well done for creating such a successful thread, @Kingzilla:D

Anyone ever heard of 'loudness war'? Search for it. Coldplay seem to have overcompressed production in general since their 3rd album. The music has been deliberately engineered to appear louder and louder. Too much compression resulting in loss in details, clarity etc.

Of course it depends on if you're listening with good headphones/speakers or smartphone/apple headphones. I'm no audiophile, I read about this some time ago, because I was wondering about production in general.

Ghost stories actually has some really nice production imo. X&Y and MX have some horrid production. This album isnt as good as GS and light years away from Viva and a rush, but its good imo

The production is decent ..... not bad at all

But i agree that Up&Up could be alot better ... still i love it ;)

The production is decent ..... not bad at all

But i agree that Up&Up could be alot better ... still i love it ;)

 

This. Decent is exactly what my opinion on it is. It's just fine, not perfect but not bad.

The leak IS of inferior quality... but I believe it was originally ripped from Soundcloud, correct? Soundcloud rips are going to be crappy 128k sourced, so no matter what bitrate version you download it will be identically crappy. There are a couple of clues that they are all the same rip, the obvious being that all the rips I've seen have Colour Spectrum and Amazing Day swapped in order. But really, the sound quality tells everything. I've seen a 256k, 320k and itunes: they all share the spectral signature of the spectrum in the bottom image, which features a 16K cutoff. This is true of many lower quality compressions. The image shows a comparison between Everglow from the 320k rip and the top, labeled Everglow.flac is actually a transcode of the actual iTunes version (Audition does not take .m4a, so I transcoded to FLAC to not further compress it and skew the spectrum). You'll notice the red lines of the spectrum extend past 16K, all the way to the top at 21k+.

 

 

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Bigger Version

Anyone ever heard of 'loudness war'? Search for it. Coldplay seem to have overcompressed production in general since their 3rd album. The music has been deliberately engineered to appear louder and louder. Too much compression resulting in loss in details, clarity etc.

Of course it depends on if you're listening with good headphones/speakers or smartphone/apple headphones. I'm no audiophile, I read about this some time ago, because I was wondering about production in general.

X&Y and MX have some horrid production.

The leak IS of inferior quality... but I believe it was originally ripped from Soundcloud, correct? Soundcloud rips are going to be crappy 128k sourced, so no matter what bitrate version you download it will be identically crappy. There are a couple of clues that they are all the same rip, the obvious being that all the rips I've seen have Colour Spectrum and Amazing Day swapped in order. But really, the sound quality tells everything. I've seen a 256k, 320k and itunes: they all share the spectral signature of the spectrum in the bottom image, which features a 16K cutoff. This is true of many lower quality compressions. The image shows a comparison between Everglow from the 320k rip and the top, labeled Everglow.flac is actually a transcode of the actual iTunes version (Audition does not take .m4a, so I transcoded to FLAC to not further compress it and skew the spectrum). You'll notice the red lines of the spectrum extend past 16K, all the way to the top at 21k+.

 

 

 

Bigger Version

 

^^All of this... Thanks guys for articulating it so well!!!

 

This over-compression is why I really disliked X&Y for the longest time... I was listening to it on normal speakers in normal volume when it first came out and it just sounded so lack-lustre and flat, and I could never get into it... All the sound that came out felt like a block / wall and I couldn't hear any nuance at all in the sounds. It was only when one day I listened on earphones and turned it up real loud that I noticed it sounded "good" again and I was able to start appreciating it. And because the sounds often are so compressed already, their quality degrades even further with ripping at lower bit-rates. And because this band is about the emotional quality and richness of sound for me, both dynamic compression and the lower bit-rates of rips really diminish the enjoyability of their music for me. The only factor I can change here is the bit-rate - I won't even listen to ripped mp.3's on my car stereos (those versions just sound annoying) so all the band's music is straight from the CD / iTunes, otherwise it really affects the sound for me.

 

That is why I am happy that they are becoming better musicians - hopefully they can reduce the dynamic compression / have done so already... And that's another reason I am not listening to leaks this time until the album comes out the way it is intended... For me anyway, the band need all the help they can get - no point ruining the experience with a lower-quality leak particularly when my ears can tell the difference... And yes, the newer albums always need to have their volumes DIALLED UP!!! :D

It is decent but nothing special. Stargate definitely makes a few interesting choices I liked throughout the album, but I also feel like some songs got dumbed down.

 

For example. The melody on Army of One is great, and I love the idea of having a synth-pop song similar to Chvrches. But by the second verse the song doesn't change--no new noises, no new instrumentation. Makes it less palatable.

 

But sometimes the song writing can just be boring too. That is the case with Fun imo. They could have produced that anyway they wanted but it still is incredibly boring. Listened to it 10 times and still don't remember the melody.

 

Finally, the drumbeats on this album really let me down. On Everglow, Up&Up, Amazing Day, Fun--the beats are just really plain and uninteresting to me. Also they are mixed really loudly which drowns out the stuff I want to hear: strings, acoustic guitar, basslines, etc. Excited to hear the higher quality version.